Linjiang Prefecture.

With Old General Chen Qiankun back, and with the prefecture having grown nearly impossible to find a single demon menace worth the name, Shen Yi no longer had any reason to linger.

After finishing dinner and staying the night, he began thinking about setting out.

"Where are you planning to go?"

Lin Baixi, having heard about everything that had happened in the prefecture lately, looked over with sudden anticipation. "Actually, I'm quite good at tracking down demons."

Condensate-realm demons were beyond her, but Shen Yi apparently wasn't even letting Jade Liquid ones slip by.

Just then, Jiang Qiulan walked into the room holding a letter. "The General wants us back. He says there's an urgent matter to discuss."

The General. An urgent matter?

Shen Yi raised his eyes slightly, already guessing at part of it.

Last time, he'd handed over the Junior Demon King's blood-qi sample to the War Temple for free, and after all these days, the results should be in by now.

"It shouldn't be bad news." Jiang Qiulan had already read it through once — a certain mildness ran through the lines, a tone that the Martial Immortal presiding over Qingzhou rarely showed.

Lin Baixi couldn't follow what the two of them were talking about, but she knew this was a matter she had no part in, so she sat quietly off to the side.

"Let's go."

Shen Yi stood and gave the girl a small nod.

He'd been meaning to discuss something with the General himself anyway. These past days spent dealing with nothing but minor demons had left even Shen Yi, accustomed as he was to bountiful harvests, feeling somewhat out of sorts.

The same single punch thrown down might yield a thousand years of demon lifespan from one creature, and a mere few decades from another.

If the Howling Moon Demon King was enough to keep the General on constant guard, then surely the General leaving Qingzhou should provoke some kind of response from it.

If it was willing to take a risk...

His path infant needed just one final kick to…